Badejo-Okusanya emerges as NBA President amid election controversy

…pledges to protect independence of NBA

By Imisioluwa Afunmiso

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has elected Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Oyinkansola Badejo-Okusanya, as its 33rd President, making her the first woman to be elected to the position in 35 years and only the second female president in the association’s 66-year history.

However, what would have been celebrated solely as a historic milestone for the legal profession has been overshadowed by controversy, following allegations of technical failures, voter disenfranchisement, and irregularities that trailed the association’s electronic voting process.

Badejo-Okusanya secured 12,317 votes to defeat her closest challenger, Lateef Omoyemi Akangbe (SAN), who polled 7,934 votes, while Aare Olumuyiwa Akinboro (SAN) garnered 5,855 votes.

The election was conducted electronically by the Electoral Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association (ECNBA).

Her victory marks the first time a woman has been elected to lead the NBA since Priscilla Kuye, who served as president between 1991 and 1992.

The election, however, was not without controversy.

Voting, which was scheduled to begin at midnight on Saturday, was delayed for several hours after the ECNBA announced that its electronic voting platform had come under a cyberattack.

The committee said the attack forced it to migrate the election to a new and more secure server before voting eventually commenced at about 7:35 a.m.

As voting progressed, several lawyers took to social media to complain about difficulties accessing the voting portal.

Others said they were unable to receive the One-Time Passwords (OTPs) required to verify their identities before voting, while some reported repeated login failures and interruptions that prevented them from casting their ballots.

The technical issues immediately raised concerns among members of the association over the credibility of the exercise, with some alleging that the disruptions denied many eligible lawyers the opportunity to participate in the election.

Following the declaration of the results, Akangbe rejected the outcome, describing the election as lacking credibility due to what he called widespread technological failures.

According to him, the integrity of any election depends on the ability of every eligible voter to participate, and he argued that the problems experienced during the exercise substantially affected the outcome.

Akinboro also questioned the conduct of the poll, alleging irregularities in the electronic voting process, including failures in the OTP verification system used to authenticate voters before ballots could be cast.

Despite the complaints, the ECNBA insisted that the election remained credible.

The committee maintained that the migration to a new voting platform was necessary to protect the election from cyber threats and preserve the integrity of the process.

It added that the challenges encountered during the exercise did not compromise the final outcome.

The election also witnessed a relatively low turnout.

Out of 82,172 lawyers eligible to vote, 26,184 eventually cast their ballots, representing about 31.9 percent voter participation, a figure lower than that recorded during the association’s previous national election.

In her acceptance speech, Badejo-Okusanya thanked members of the association for the confidence reposed in her and pledged to provide transparent, inclusive, and accountable leadership.

She promised to strengthen the NBA, protect the independence of the legal profession, and prioritize the welfare of lawyers across the country.

While Badejo-Okusanya’s emergence has been widely described as a significant step forward for women’s representation in leadership within the legal profession, the controversy surrounding the election has shifted attention to the reliability of electronic voting in professional associations.

With some contestants already challenging the credibility of the process, observers say the coming days are likely to be dominated by calls for a review of the election and improvements to the NBA’s electronic voting system to strengthen confidence in future polls.